Emulating Solidworks Loft features?

What's the best way to replicate the simple case of the Solidworks
'Loft' feature in WF3? That is a 'linear blend' between two profiles,
which need not be in the same plane. Any attempt to use boundary blend
or normal blends creates a curved transistion...I just want a simple
linear blend, to match existing Solidworks models.

--

 

Create your sections

Insert > blend > protrusion > general > select section > done

Leave the default Attributes as straight [transition] blend > done

Remember to say 'no' when asked if you want to add another section [after
the last section] or end up with an empty section.

This is still the old menu manager funtionality so a bit clunky

If you want to use the suface boundary blend function you'll have to create
seperate features between each pair of sections.


Sean

 

I would do it as Sean described using the general blend.

The boundary blend features can absolutely do it (all blends and
sweeps are merely collections of boundary blend subfeatures), if you
can get the settings correct. Sometimes that's not easy with BB's.

Dave

 

If you want to use the suface boundary blend function you'll have to create
seperate features between each pair of sections.


Sean, you might be happy to learn that you can create the boundary blend surface between two sketches, no patches, no connecting curves. I just did one that was pretty high curvature, blending between two extruded solid twisted in relation to each other (based on the same sketches). To solidify the BB surface, I "filled" sketches with surface, did a couple merges then put some rounds on the corners. Be interesting to compare this to the other methods. In fact, when I was taking a SW course, I thought I did just that, sought to find the technique, in Pro/e, that best the Loft feature. And, I thought I came to the conclusion that it was the VSS. But, if there are no trajectories in the loft, then all sweep features are out as they all require at least one trajectory, including the VSS.

David Janes